Reboot
As you may have noticed (Gawd, I hope somebody actually noticed) all three of my web sites were down for a while. A turn out my web host was hacked and some sites (including mine) were knocked out. The tech support folks were able to restore everything. This outage would have been a lot shorter [...]
Are You Up For Bartering???
Hello all. Today I wanted to write down my thoughts on bartering. Bartering is the process of trading goods and/or services instead of using money. Personally, I have no problem trading my photography services for your product/service. I would like to make some ground rules regarding bartering. If you are thinking about bartering, please let [...]
Budget for Photography
In last week’s post “Getting a Product Photography Quote” I mentioned that if you have a budget in mind it would be helpful for me to know how much that is when quoting for a project. It seems that when asked this question, most clients answer with “I don’t know” or “As little as possible”. [...]
Happy World Intellectual Property Day
I just wanted to wish you and your family a Happy World Intellectual Property Day Recent Posts at Cycling-Foto.com: App Review, Endomondo Paleo Diet My Cycling Life
Getting a product photography quote
Often in the past I have gotten calls asking how much do I charge. Unfortunately that’s not a simple question to answer. As like most photographers today, I do not have a “Day Rate” of “Hourly Rate”. My rate is dependent on what it is that you want me to do. Basically, some jobs are [...]
In search of good enough
As I have stated numerous times. We are at a time when people are not taking their business as seriously as they should (or used to). Recently Fast Media magazine published an article “In search of good enough” in it they discuss the emergence of the amateurs into the stock photography world and how it [...]
Two Landing Pages
This web site now has two separate landing pages. Vrbuzard.com for the blog and now voncommercialphotographer.com for the gallery. Both are actually the same site just different ways to access it. The photo above was part of a PAWS Chicago adoption event. If you or a friend in the Chicago area is looking for a [...]
Do you use photography?
Bravo to Smashing Magazine for their recent article How to Use Photos to Sell More Online If you are in business I HIGHLY recommend you take time and read this. Then take a look how you are using photography to sell your business. It might also help you if you were to print this out [...]
Who does your design work?
This is one of the funniest vids I’ve seen lately Scary thing is how many times I’ve seen this happen Thanks to A Photo Editor blog to turning me onto this As well as to “Why Design-By-Committee Should Die” at Smashing Magazine
Do you look at what you are doing?
This is too funny and way too common today I’m not going to name names but the other day I was working on photos for a brochure for a B2B distributor. I hadn’t seen the layout. All I was told was that that needed a photo of item X The item was a Large store [...]
How Good is Your Advertising?
The other day I was sitting in front of the Television. Watching a show recorded on my DVR. Of course I was hitting the fast forward button thru all of the commercials. Then in the blur of ads I saw one with Lance Armstrong for Radio Shack. Well of course I hit the play button [...]
Have You Googled Yourself Lately?
I know it sounds dirty. When was the last time you ran your own name or your companies name thru Google? What do you think you would or should find? What would you hope to find? Go ahead try it but please do it in a new tab or browser window. What did you find? [...]
Can I see your photo permit?
Did you know that if you want to take a photograph in a Chicago park you need a permit? Seriously! A while back I was doing a portrait for a friend in Wicker Park, When a person came up and said that commercial photography in Chicago parks were not allowed. I asked, “What makes you [...]
I Wub U !
Ah Grover, you’ve done it again. First Grover Sanschagrin at Photoshelter wrote “Top 13 Ways to Piss Off a Photo Editor” then posted “Top 10 Ways to Piss Off a Photographer“. Now he has posted “TOP 10 WAYS TO MAKE A PHOTOGRAPHER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU“. I’m only going to add a couple of points [...]
Don't make me angry, You wouldn't like me when I'm angry
Grover Sanschagrin over at Photoshelter has written a follow up to his blog post “Top 13 Ways to Piss Off a Photo Editor” with “Top 10 Ways to Piss Off a Photographer” I found it, in a way, kind of comforting to see that I wasn’t the only one who was bothered by some of [...]
What I do
Reading Chris Brogan’s blog last week, “What I Do“. In it Chris writes about his new logo and about people noting their dislike of it. That it doesn’t say, what he does. I then looked at my logo. Well, it says my name and Commercial Photography. When I think about it, does that REALLY say [...]
Are You My (Potential) Client?
I’ve noticed that most photographer blogs seem to be geared toward other photographers. Looking at this blog I start to wonder at times, who am I writing for? One reason for writing this is, I hate to say it, but to raise my SEO (Search Engine Optimization). See, Google loves words, especially words about a [...]
News for June
There are some small changes coming soon to my photo business First off, later this month (I believe starting the 15th) I will be accepting Discover cards along with Visa and MasterCard (sorry American Express) and Second, I have been informed that this month (10th?) Photoshelter will be making some upgrades to their servers. Since [...]
David Meerman Scott Values Photography
I just love it when people I admire tell why good photography matters. Recently David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR (2nd Edition) (read 1st Edition (Loved It), Got 2nd, Haven’t read it Yet) World Wide Rave (Read It, Loved It), Tuned In (Reading It, Loving It) and Eyeball Wars [...]
Good, Fast and Cheap!
Pick Two You can either get product/catalog photography that’s Good and Fast, but it won’t be Cheap. Or Good and Cheap, but not Fast, Or how about Fast and Cheap. Guess what? it won’t be Good How many times have you heard that old business saying? Not just for photography but for any business? Quite [...]
Shout Out to Rosh
Fellow photographer Rosh Sillars has just posted his 100th New Media Photographer Podcast If that weren’t his book “The Linked Photographers’ Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media” has just been published (Is there anything this guy can’t do?) Congratulations Rosh, I look forward reading the book as well as to the next 1000 episodes
New Directions
Lately Chris Brogan has really got me thinking and rethinking about what this blog is and why am I doing it. His most recent post How are You USING Your Blogging Posted using ShareThis again struck a cord with me as well as RETHINK YOUR WEB PRESENCE. Now truth be told, yes, I want this [...]
Survival of the Fittest: PGS
Jimmy D is (his words)a Guy, Somewhere Near Los Angeles, who earns his keep with cameras in his hands. He recently posted “Survival of the Fittest” an excellent view at the current state of the photographic industry today.
Creative Commons and FlickR
I recently did something that I had been planning on doing for months now. I’ve added a Creative Commons License to my FlickR account. With this license people will be allowed to use my photos (those posted from now going forward) for “Personal Use” only, in exchange that users must indicate who the creator is [...]
